There are currently 41,356 open vacancies across all industries in Yorkshire and Humber, meaning that nearly 10% of all open roles are in IT. The average IT worker in the region can expect to make £45,013 – £13,000 more than the region’s average salary of £32,012. 

The figures on the growth of Yorkshire and Humber’s tech industry are published as the Government’s Digital Economy Council and Tech Nation prepare to host a digital roundtable on January 12th to discuss the challenges facing the tech sector as it works to create jobs and help the region recover from the impact of the coronavirus on jobs. 

Leeds tech leads the way

Leeds is the biggest centre in the region when it comes to tech, with 809 open job roles. The average tech salary in the city is £50,447, one-tenth higher than the region’s average tech salary of £45,013. Specialist software skills are in particularly high demand in the city: software consultants have enjoyed a 51% salary increase in the past year, with an average salary of £68,878. 

There are 223 open roles for software engineers and developers, who can command average salaries of between £59,898 to £66,728. The top hiring firms in the city include SaaS provider Premier IT, commercial property agents Sanderson Weatherall and risk intelligence platform Crisp. 

“Yorkshire is becoming one of our strongest tech hubs in the UK and it is great to see the benefits of this dynamic industry expanding across the whole region. We are committed to spreading jobs and opportunities in the digital sector across the country. With 2020's investment figures reaching record highs, I look forward to working with local tech entrepreneurs to build on this momentum throughout the next year.” Caroline Dinenage, Minister for Digital 

As the third-biggest city in the country, a total of 333 startups and scale-ups call Leeds home. They have benefited in particular from their pick of highly skilled graduates, with 39% of the universities’ 38,900 graduates coming from STEM-related degrees. In 2019, the University of Leeds launched its Nexus innovation hub, a £40M enterprise centre which now houses growing companies such as Vet.AI. The arrival of Channel 4 in the city last year also gave Leeds a boost as a new media city to rival Salford in Manchester. 

Regionals businesses excelling expectations

However, Leeds is far from the only city that is home to a thriving tech ecosystem in the region. Previous Tech Nation research shows that tech companies in the region turned over nearly £4 billion in 2019 and employ more than 53,000 people. Five Yorkshire-based companies were named in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 for 2020, including Fleetondemand and Smart Search in West Yorkshire and Giacom in Hull, which was acquired by Digital Wholesale Solutions in November. 

It’s not only established businesses that are doing well, with many newly-formed startups raising seed investment at the end of 2020 including Leeds-based healthtech and wellbeing company Hero, which raised £830,000, Sheffield AI startup Opteran, which raised £2.1M, and Ilkley-based fintech banking platform Icuto, which raised £1.8 million. 

Dr George Windsor, head of insights, Tech Nation, said: “Tech companies in Yorkshire have reported one of their strongest years so far in 2020. Entrepreneurs across the region have benefited from specialist investment and the establishment of strong local networks, which have all contributed to a flourishing tech cluster. This event is an important opportunity to hear from those in the local tech community on what can be done to build on this success.”